Blog

Los Angeles is safe to breathe! (For now.)

Dec 9, 2007 • Karen

Today Carolyn and I went to the Geffen to see an exhibit on Takashi Murakami. I'll have to write about him sometime (ie. tonight, for my art event report :p). Right now, though, I'm going to rant and rave about the air quality of LA.

We've had several days of 50-degree weather and rain. Today, however, was sunny. As a result, not only is Mount Baldy covered in snow--the air is, by California standards, pristine.

I took this on the way back from the Geffen. Consider that, earlier this semester, you couldn't even see the damn mountains. Also, I was taking these at 70 MPH without a tripod. It was that crisp out there.

Perhaps the best illustration of how clean the air is right now--which I can't illustrate because I didn't have my camera out: When you drive to LA from Claremont on the 10, you go up a hilly ridge between Pomona and Covina that demarcates the Inland Empire from LA proper. When the air's good, from the top of this ridge you can see some of the eastern LA suburbs laid out beneath you. When the air's crappy, you see a big expanse of smog and you want an oxygen tank for your descent.

Today, you could see everything. You could see the fall foliage of four dozen suburbs. You could see the skyscrapers of downtown LA, loud and clear. You could practically see the ocean.

I've never seen it so beautiful. No wonder they settled Los Angeles a hundred years ago.

I wonder how many days until the rain-cleansed atmosphere goes back to normal.